The Other Wolves
by Martel732
Summary: An exploration of the under-developed true lycanthropes mentioned in Breaking Dawn. Kyle was born with latent lycanthropy, which is triggered by his Quileute blood. However, it is very difficult to be the only one of his kind in the Pacific Northwest.
1. Chapter 1

July 11, 2011

1:13 pm

Interstate 84, Oregon/Idaho border

Chapter 1: Road Trip

Seth Clearwater POV

Life was strange. I mean, my life was always strange by normal people's standards: shifting into a giant wolf to fight the enemies of my people; telepathic links to my pack mates and my _sister. _Yeah, I guess that qualified as _really_ strange. But today, things just seemed even stranger.

Last Friday, I got a call from the self-styled "Prince of Seattle" telling me that he had a situation that he might need my specific help with. That was strange to me, since this guy's _never_ contacted any of my pack mates directly, except Jacob, and that was an extreme emergency. And then Sunday night, he called me back and told me he needs me to go to Arizona, because the shifter pack down there has a medical problem, but they absolutely will not allow vampires on their territory, so that rules out him, Edward, or Carlisle. And then this morning, he drops on me that Kyle is coming, too. That's the weirdest, because since Kyle's come back us, he never does anything or goes anywhere. But right now, he was driving a Cullen Volvo with me riding shotgun.

I mean, it wasn't totally weird, given that Kyle had actually finished medical school and I'm just a part-time EMT. But he never talks about it, and I only know this because I teased it out of Jared. Sam's pack didn't like to talk about this guy, and I suspected they were under some kind of alpha order regarding the topic. And Kyle wasn't saying anything either. Of course, he'd only been back a few months, so maybe he'd open up. However, we had already been driving for hours and there had not been one word from him.

"Uhh, what kind of music do you like to listen to?" I asked, reaching for the radio.

"This is fine," he stated flatly. Not rude, but definitely icy.

So much for that icebreaker. But I was pretty sure I'd go absolutely insane if the whole trip was like this. I decided to just go for it. It was silly to be intimidated by a guy who was one hundred thirty pounds soaking wet.

"Sooooo...why did you agree to come, again? I mean, you don't even go on patrol or anything. You come to meetings at the Cullens' house but look like you can't wait for them to end."

"That's my concern, not yours."

"Seriously, dude? There's no reason to be a dick about it."

"I'm not trying to be a dick. I just don't like to discuss my… condition or anything related to it."

Oh, man. He always calls it a "condition". Like it was a fucking disease or something. He never brought up even trying to help out on patrols or anything of the sort. Leah hated him for it, calling him a huge coward. Come to think of it, I had not seen him once in his wolf form. Sighing, I pressed on."Well, it would be nice to have some clue about what's going on here."

"I don't know any more than you, I assure you. It's a medical-related problem, and the Navaho shifters will not [E1] tolerate the presence of vampires."

"Yeah, but we don't get medical-related issues!"

"I have no idea, nor do I have any way to offer any conjecture. I completely lack Carlisle's expertise in supernatural medicine."

"So why did you agree to this trip? The old fossil in Seattle got a cure for you or something?" Back to that again.

"There is no cure," he snapped. The look on his face conveyed a certain level of experience with that topic. "It's still none of your business, but I can tell that you certainly live up to your reputation and will probably never shut up unless I spill something."

I grinned. I was used to people complaining about my talkative nature. "You betcha!"

He finally diverted his gaze from the road just a bit to glance sideways at me. "Wilhelm, our illustrious Prince of Seattle, claims he can get me information about my lycanthropic strain, but only if I do him this favor."

"Dude, he won't just tell you? That's bullshit!"

Kyle's lip curled up into a rare smile. "I can see you're picking up speech habits from your sister. No, he won't _just_ tell me. He claims that the Cullens have been too indulgent with me, and that I need to earn this myself."

"Can you blame the Cullens?"

"What I did, I would have done for anyone, I suppose. The fact that Bella's mother was involved was just chance. Given the results, I think I was very lucky and consider that incident to be the extent that I should be involved in any of this."

"Is that why you don't really participate in patrols or anything?"

"Seth, it's my policy to phase only when I'm forced to by lunar cycle. It minimizes the chances of infecting others. Besides, given my size and strength, or lack thereof, what exactly do you expect me to do? Not to mention the lack of telepathic link with any other wolves. Not that I miss that."

"I still think there's something more you can do." I let the telepathic link comment go. The expression on his face had _not _been pleasant when he had gotten to that part.

"Of course you do, Seth. You're the eternal optimist. I, on the other hand, have had reality shown to me. Often in very painful ways."

"Want to talk about that? I saw what happened through Jake's link."

"No, not really. You already know what you need to know about that."

"Dude, you survived being _eviscerated_. Literally. You should be proud. Or cocky. Or something."

A pained look took over his face, and the icy tone returned. "That's enough for now. I don't speak of it. Ever."

It was too much to hope for, getting him to dish on that. I really wanted to know exactly what had happened when he'd first started phasing and what he had been doing for the last _five _years. He was totally maladjusted to his "condition". And the "Florida Incident" —as Wilhelm called it— was key, I was sure. But this was a start. And I had all the way to Arizona to wear him down. What was he gonna do? Beat me up like Jake often threatened?

Well, I found out the hard way what he would do. And that was: to not talk to me until we stopped in Salt Lake City after my demands for some food that wasn't from a gas station.

I tried my best to be upbeat. "Where do you want to eat?"

"I don't care. I'll find something at whatever place you want to eat."

I was really hungry, so I picked some buffet-style joint. After we paid, I quickly went about loading up my plate. I went to look for Kyle, and he had selected a booth far off in the corner. I sat down with him and was surprised by the small amount of food on his plate.

"That's all you're going to have?" I asked, gesturing at his plate of mostly green stuff.

"After being overweight before all this happened, I'm a bit wary of overeating. That's all. You're just used to your pack brothers."

"Well, you're rail thin now. I don't think you're in any danger of being overweight any time soon. You sure that's all you want?"

"Yes, now drop it!" he hissed sharply.

Wowza. I was now a bit on edge from his confrontational attitude. This was going from bad to worse. I think I preferred it better back in the car with silence. But just as I was lamenting my bad fortune of being stuck on a road trip with this guy, something changed in his demeanor. He stopped eating and put his head down in his hands. His whole body seemed to sink down a couple of inches in the booth seat and seem smaller than it already was.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. It was barely loud enough for my wolfy hearing. He continued, this time a bit louder. "You and Jake have been among the kindest to me since my return. It's very stupid and ungrateful of me to treat you like this." He raised his head to look at me. "I really despise this existence, and I don't know what to do."

Holy mood swings, Batman. I just stared at him for what seemed like ten minutes but was probably more like thirty seconds. "Uhhhh, it's okay?"

I had no idea what to say to this guy. I was extremely uncomfortable with this sort of thing; Jake was much better at it. One of the reasons he was a great Alpha.

I blurted out the most obvious thing ever. "Umm, what exactly do you hate? And have you talked to Jake about this? Or Edward?" I glanced around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear any of this conversation.

"I'm trying very hard to not be a burden, so no, I don't pester Jake with my problems. What is he going to do, anyway? Or anyone else for that matter?" Bitterness dripped off his words, but so did resignation. All pretense of attitude was gone. Defeat remained.

"And as for the Cullens, I avoid our cold friends. I think you know why. And as far as Edward goes, I don't want him in my head for his own sake. I don't hate their kind, especially not the Cullens. I just want to keep my distance."

Yeah. I could see where a guy having his guts torn out by one might have that effect. Jake had bounced back from the time he saved Leah from that newborn, but Jake was a real badass.

He continued, "I hate the nightmares. I hate the slow, painful transformations. I hate having to eat meat. I hate having to live on the fringes of human society. I hate… " He trailed off, looking away.

The meat thing seemed kinda weird. But he didn't finish. I was more curious about what he didn't want to say. "What else? You should come clean to _someone_."

"I hate, or rather, I'm just envious of shifters like yourself. No painful transformations. No forced lunar transformations. Insta-awesome body. My time as a shifter sucked, but even then, I really never was one. It was a fucked up situation. But I can't keep up with you guys, nor can I fight like you, even if I wanted to. So I just stay out of the way. And try not to be a burden." His eye seemed to twitch a little at that point, and he reached up to his eye. "Oh, and I hate contacts, too."

I was pretty overwhelmed by his confession. So I focused on the obvious again. "You wear contacts? Don't you have perfect wolf eyesight at least?"

He seemed almost glad that I didn't address his other points. "Yeah, I do. But they're not corrective. I have them because, since I started phasing, my eyes are actually solid black. No irises. No pupils. Just black." He glanced around and lowered his voice. "Even the vampires can get away with their yellow-almond eyes. Just another awesome side effect."

Upon this revelation, I realized just how little I knew about a guy who had been coming to our pack meetings for months. I also realized just how used I was to the telepathic bond eliminating secrets with my pack brothers. "Do you have any idea why your eyes are _black_?" After I said it, I felt a bit stupid for asking something he likely didn't know the answer to. Probably not a good idea with someone obviously insecure.

"Well, it probably has to do with how my vision works."

"What do you mean, how it works?"

"It was something I really struggled with when I first truly became what I am. I can see into the far infrared and far ultra-violet spectrums. I've got extra muscles in my eyes to control which spectrum I'm seeing in, along with the usual focusing muscles. It took a while to learn to control them. It was very frustrating. But I don't smell too well by wolf standards, and when I hunt on new moons, my wolf uses mostly sight and sound to hunt."

"Well, that sounds… useful." I was trying hard to be encouraging here.

"I guess. Maybe. Seems like kind of a hassle to me. I'm still not used to the contacts."

I considered him for a moment. Something didn't quite add up. Wait a second… "Haven't you had to wear those for years, now?" It just came from my train of thought.

"Not… exactly," he admitted, lowering his head and looking away again. "I've only been phasing for a few months now. In fact, only three months before the Florida incident."

That was impossible. He had run away five years ago. "How long did it take for this lycanthropy stuff to kick in over your shifterness?" Was that even a word?

"It's kind of a long story. We've got to get back on the road soon, you need to start eating, as I know how much you guys eat. Let's just say, I can tell you that there is no real cure for my condition. And that I was able to avoid phasing for all those years, but the price was high. And all I did was put off adaptation, evidently." He finished up the last of his food.

I had a lot of food to eat, but I wasn't quite done yet. "It's not a 'condition'; it's who you are. Try to remember that. And one more thing, please: were you telling the truth about why you agreed to come with me? I'd kind of like to know, since we're in this together." I felt I had a right to know.

"Yes, I wouldn't lie to you about that. Without a telepathic link, I feel it would be a horrible violation of trust. That's one of the reason I'm silent so much: I'm so tempted to lie. But to clarify, I've met other lycanthropes. They saved my life; another long story. But they didn't recognize my strain. The Cullens don't recognize it. The Denali clan doesn't recognize it. Even Wilhelm didn't know at first. However, he came into new information, but will only tell me if I do this for him."

I digested that for a second. I tried to imagine being a werewolf without having a pack there to tell me the rules. Yeah, that would suck. "Well, don't worry. I'm sure between the two of us, we'll get this cleared up in no time!"

"Yeah, I hope so, Seth. Sorry for being an asshole earlier."

"It's okay! I just hope you feel better soon!"

"I'm not sure how that's going to happen exactly, but I appreciate it. I have a feeling that the others are not as understanding. At any rate, better eat up."

I finished eating, and we were back on the road within ten minutes, this time with me driving. There was another long stretch of silence on the way to Arizona, but without the hostile body language. He seemed to be really lost in thought. Even though I had a ton of questions, I left him alone, figuring that he was probably done for a while after the buffet conversation.

Hopefully, Arizona would yield some answers. Like what the hell was going on with our Navaho brothers.


	2. Chapter 2

July 12, 2011

11:45 am

Route 191, Southern Utah

Chapter 2: Better than Nothing

Kyle Khattab POV

We were getting close to our destination. I still had no idea what I was doing here. Sure, it would be nice to know something concrete about what I actually _was_, but at the same time, I had to consider whether it was worth exposing myself. I had been unconscious at the time, but back in Florida, the Volturi had made it very clear they wanted me dead. Or maybe just Caius wanted me dead. Was there a difference? Only interference from Wilhelm, Jake, Embry and Brady had stopped them from claiming me right there. Alice had reassured me there were no blanks spots in the Volturi's futures, but the whole thing just made me very nervous. I shuddered and tried to banish this line of thinking from my mind.

Would knowing anything more about myself actually change anything? There was only one way to find out.

Seth interrupted my train of thought. "You okay? You don't look so good. Is breakfast not sitting well? Want me to drive for a bit?"

"No, I'm fine. Just thinking about Florida again. I'm good to drive." I really was good to drive. Driving was admittedly very easy now. Objects moving at the speed of the average passenger car seemed rather slow to me. However, I suspected the same was true for practically everyone I knew at this point.

But upon mention of breakfast, my stomach rumbled uncontrollably. I had almost lost control and broke my diet routine this morning. My experimentation with using diet to control unwanted transformations seemed to be working so far; I had experienced no transformations except those tied to the lunar cycle, even in times of stress. But the downside was that I was constantly hungry. Constantly.

_This is almost as insane as that poison._

I groaned as the unwanted voice in my head took its turn interrupting my train of thought. I learned from a group of lycanthropes in Boston that unlike shifters, there were more profound psychological effects to lycanthropy: more urges, more internal conflicts and the like. Their working hypothesis was that shifters had been engineered or created as guardians sometime in the past, whereas lycanthropy was more primal. I had a particularly potent manifestation of my less civilized half that bordered on schizophrenia, I was sure. Whether Edward knew about this part of me and just kept quiet, I didn't know. He or it or whatever it was had never attempted to grab control, but I didn't ever want to find out the hard way that it could. Best to keep it as weak as possible.

_Go away, _I countered, _No one asked you._

_I _am _you, you fucking idiot._

Before I could continue the internal quarrel, Seth cut in again. "You look really upset, man. You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, maybe you should drive the rest of the way. " It was humiliating not even being able to carry out mundane tasks such as driving because of my condition. I pulled on to the shoulder and we quickly swapped places in the now dusty blue Volvo.

He started driving, and after what seemed like only a couple minutes, he stated, "Are you sure I didn't do something to piss you off? You've been out of it and holding your head for twenty minutes or so now."

Had it been that long?

"I'm sorry, Seth. I don't mean to be bad company. I'm just not as clearheaded as I was before…"

_You haven't been thinking clearly for a long time now. _

I ignored the voice and focused on what Seth was saying.

"Your _condition_? Or Florida?"

"Take your pick?"

"I think", Seth declared, "that someone should be with you during the next new moon. I think you're spending _way _too much time alone. In fact, I think I'll drop by during the next new moon. I've never seen your wolf, and that just seems wrong to me somehow."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but there's nothing you can do. It's probably pretty disturbing for an observer. I know it's disturbing for _me. _It's not clean and neat like your phasing. I've got the whole bone breaking and reforming thing going on. It takes a little while, and is pretty damned painful. It's another reason I avoid off-cycle transformations."

I had met several lycanthropes in Boston that were able to much more easily transform than myself. They hadn't been able to identify my strain any better than Wilhelm, and so they weren't able to rule my slow, painful transformations as a feature of my lycanthropic strain. Lucky me.

"I know that there are a lot of differences between us, but can't Carlisle come up with something?"  
"Well, I can tell you that pharmaceuticals designed for humans don't work well on my kind. Or at least, don't seem work on me. As for Carlisle, the Cullens respect my wishes in wanting to avoid contact with vampires in general. I really haven't discussed this much with him. I don't think there's anything he can do, anyway. "

"Have you been taking drugs or something behind our backs?"

That hit dangerously close to the truth about my missing years. At least, missing years from his perspective. I chose to tell him something that was at least partially true. This was not the time for the whole truth.

_Too cowardly to tell him what really happened?_

I shut the voice away mercilessly.

"Not exactly. At least not what you're thinking. Before I came back to the Forks area, and all this started, I was on a couple of prescription anti-depressants. One was an MAOI; potent stuff. I can tell you that I tried to pick them up after I… left, and they had no effect."

"You don't need drugs to feel better, man. You really should at least talk to Edward or something. I bet he could help a lot. He's a great guy!"

"I am very familiar with your opinion of Edward and company. I frequently got a mind-full about that situation during my time in Sam's pack. The Cullens have been nothing but kind to me, but I've seen enough vampires to last me a long time. And I wouldn't wish the memory of what happened to me upon anyone. Well, not anyone like Edward, anyway."

"I guess I understand that. Come on up to the rez more often then. I'll show you how to cliff dive!"

I gave him a half-hearted smile. His enthusiasm was contagious. A little, at any rate. But still, what he proposed was a poor idea.

"Seth, I really think it's best if I just stayed out of everyone's way. I don't want anyone having to do anything heroic on my behalf. I'd feel even worse if someone got hurt because I intentionally put myself in a situation where I was in over my head and a liability. "

"Like in a fight, right? Is that it?"

"Yes, Seth. Like another fight. I may not be as smart as I used to be, but I know to keep my nose out of that kind of business when at all possible. I see my relocation back to the Pacific Northwest as an opportunity to just stay out of things."

"Caius knows about you. He's never going to stop hunting you. How is that 'staying out' of things? And what do you mean, not as smart as you used to be?"

"I used to know things; I used to have answers. I was always the top in all my diagnostics classes. Rare diseases, bizarre symptoms; nothing fooled me. I knew I was going to graduate and get a top residency position and then go on and get a top position somewhere. But then, this all happened. I went from being the most knowledgeable person in my class or floor in a hospital to being laughably inadequate compared to Carlisle or Edward.

"Now I can't focus. I can't think. I can't tell you in which direction the sun sets. I don't have any answers. And the worst part is that it doesn't matter, because Carlisle or Edward would already have the answer anyway. The only reason I'm here is because these suspicious fucks down here won't let vampires on their reservation. "

"I thought you didn't hate vampires. Sure sounds like you hate Carlisle and Edward. Are you sure Sam didn't rub off on you after all?"

"No, Seth. It's not like that. I don't hate them. But I'll tell you that one of the things that Sam despised about me was my eventual acceptance that Carlisle was my intellectual superior in every way. Sam's not the most evidence-based guy."

"It sounds like you were really into being the smartest guy in the room. And kind of a know-it-all prick, too. Maybe you're better off now. Maybe this was something you were going to find out one way or the other."

"Pride comes before the fall and all that. And I had plenty far to fall. But it's not like I lost on Jeopardy, Seth. My old life effectively ended, and a new one began. One that sucked. And still does. It's an honor among your people for you to be what you are. What am I? I'm a guy who turns into a wolf once a month."

"I think you could be more than that. It sucks that not even Carlisle knows anything about your kind."

"It would seem that the lycanthropes had been thoroughly exterminated in Europe by the time Carlisle was born." Glancing at the directions that Seth had written down, I saw we had just passed a mile marker where we needed to turn onto an unmarked road. "Hey, it's coming up very soon."

A few seconds later, Seth turned the Volvo onto the dirt path. He slowed down considerably, probably because the Volvo was a poor off-road vehicle. "Well, I'm sure that you can help these Navajo out, and then Wilhelm will give you some more info. You were top of the class, right?"

Seth's enthusiasm was normally infectious, but my doubts clouded it out like a storm front. I could only feebly hope he was right.  
_

Seth Clearwater POV

4:45 pm

Indian Route 59

We reached the end of the dirt road. There was an old dune buggy and an old pick up from the 80's parked here as well.

"What now?" Kyle asked impatiently.

Double checking the instructions I had written out, I replied, "We wait here. We have to approach their village on foot. It's the tribal custom for this village. It's not on any outsider maps. "

"Great. Whatever. Let me unpack my gear from the trunk while we wait."

"Okay, that's cool."

He popped the trunk and got out of the car. I gathered a water bottle and a Mariners ball cap to keep the sun off my head. I joined him at the back of the car. He was looking through an efficiently-packed, insulated medical supply bag. It looked pretty stuffed.

"What do you have in there?" I asked.

"Pretty much anything Carlisle and I could think of, since we had basically no information to conjecture from. Everything from antibiotics to antipsychotics."

He then retrieved a black leather-bound briefcase.

"What's that? More supplies?"

"In a manner of speaking."

He spun combination locks on the top of the case and opened it. Inside was a large, intimidating looking revolver. Also, there were six bullets with red tips in foam around the weapon. He picked it up and opened the cylinder and began inspecting it.

"What are you doing with that?"

"Checking to make sure the cylinder and barrel are still perfectly clean."

"No, I mean why do you have that in the trunk?"

"Didn't Jake or Edward ever mention it? I have exactly _one_ vampire kill to my name. But I didn't do it with teeth or claws. I think we both know what a joke that would be. I did it with this. Granted, the vampire was pretty doped out on blood at the time." Kyle wore a pained look on his face. I pressed on.

"But guns aren't effective against vampires."

"You should know better than that. During that little incident that brought Wilhelm into the fold, Bella got hit by several tracers and Edward took a sniper round to the head. At least, that's what Jasper told me. Weapons like this make the Cullens a bit nervous. Who would have thought, huh?"

"Yeah, but those were much larger weapons!"

"Seth, this is a ten millimeter revolver with customized HEIAP ammunition. Before you ask, that's 'High Explosive Incendiary Armor Piercing'. I designed the rounds during my stay in Boston. I used the Young's modulus of marble as my penetration model. I guess I never mentioned that my undergraduate degree was in mechanical engineering, not biology or something like that. My undergraduate advisor said I was gifted at it, but I just used it as a stepping stone for medical school."

I tried to think of something to say. I guess I took too long, because he kept talking.

"So the rounds will penetrate vampires just fine, but that's not really the hard part. That part was just all trying bullet configurations until one worked. The hard part is that there's really only one part of a vampire worth hitting: the motor cortex. That's the part of the brain that controls motor function. It paralyzes them long enough to be able to dispose of them. At least it did the one time."

"Can you hit a moving vampire with it?"

"Probably not. Unfortunately, I probably can only hit such a specific body part if they are close and mostly still."

"Doesn't sound that useful, then. No offense. Also, are they illegal here in Navajo nation?"

He had finished inspecting the weapon and loaded the three-round cylinder and then put on a weapon harness. "I'll sure they'll make an exception for me. And I never said it was perfect. There's a reason I just try to stay out of the way of the real vampire slayers," he said, pointing at me. "But hopefully, most vampires won't expect it. It's better than nothing, at any rate." He gestured past my shoulder. "You think that's who we're waiting for?"

I turned and saw four figures standing on top of a hill to the east. They seemed to be waiting for us.  
"Yeah, I'd bet that's them."

"Then let's see what the big fucking deal is," Kyle quipped as he hefted the large insulated medical bag.

"You need any help with that?"

"I'm not big and strong like you, but I can carry a bag. Let's go."

With that, we began to ascend the hill toward the four figures.


	3. Chapter 3

Navajo Nation

Chapter 3: Meet and Greet

Seth Clearwater POV

"What exactly are we supposed to be doing here again?" Kyle whispered as we climbed up the hill to meet the Navajo shifters.

I whispered back, "I told you, I don't know exactly. Something medical related."

The still-bright sun beat down on us, and I stripped down to my shorts before the hill got really steep. Kyle appeared completely unaffected by the heat, although the bag was giving him a little trouble. The expression on his face made it clear he would not accept offers of help.

As we ascended the rocky hill, it was clear that one figure was far smaller than the other three. A woman. And likely, not a shifter, either. My guess was quickly confirmed.

"Three like you, one human," Kyle whispered.

"How do you know for sure?"

"Body heat."

Oh, right. He had mentioned being able to do that. Wolf-enhanced vision was one thing, but being able to see entirely different spectra of light seemed pretty strange to me. I could see where it could be very handy, though.

As we drew within speaking distance, I waved at the figures and tried to remember the name Wilhelm had given me. The three shirtless males were all shorter than me, or really any of my pack brothers, but they were powerfully built like us and sure smelled like shifters. Like with us, it was impossible to discern their actual age.

The woman was average height, but her tank top and the shorts she wore for the July heat showed her to be toned and fairly muscular. She kind of reminded me of a shorter version of my sister, except she didn't smell like a wolf, of course. Four pairs of dark eyes stared back at me. _Tse_. Pretty sure the name was Tse. "Is one of you Tse? We're here to help." I extended my hand, but was uncertain whose to shake. Kyle finished scrambling up the hill with his bag of supplies. He was panting from exertion.

The tallest one stepped forward and gripped my hand. He had a grip that rivaled Jake's. "I'm Tse. This is Yiska and Gad," he said, gesturing to the two other males. "And this is Rain. She's my little sister. You're Seth, I take it? And he's the other one the leech promised? You can vouch for him?"

"Yeah, of course. He's –"

"Not a real doctor," Kyle interjected. The bitterness dripped from his voice.

"He knows a lot more than me, and I'm the best my pack has got," I explained to Tse.

"You guys would have been better off with Carlisle or Edward," Kyle announced.

All three of the shifters were visibly agitated by this comment. "Never on our land!" Yiska cried. Rain immediately moved to calm him down.

Tse, after seeing that Rain had Yiska under control, explained, "This was discussed with the elder leech. No vampires. If you're the best we have, it's better than what we had before. You have our thanks. But things have gotten worse. We must leave immediately."

I nodded. "I understand. Let's go. How far is it?"

Tse replied, "About eight miles west of here. No road. Outsiders aren't welcome. It is our most sacred village. We'll explain once we get closer. We can't take any chances at all with the situation. Come."

With that, he turned, clearly expecting us to follow him. Rain glanced back and saw Kyle struggling with the bag. She quipped, "We don't have time for this, no offense," taking the bag from him.

Groaning at the hike, Kyle miraculously said nothing in protest as we started across the desert.

_

I had to admit that the desert was beautiful in its own way. I preferred the vast, lush forests of my home reservation, but colors and mirages of the desert had their appeal. Walking behind Rain didn't hurt at all, either. I quickly got over her similarities to my sister and found myself enjoying this view. As enjoyable as this was, long silences kind of bothered me, so I tried a little wolf-to-wolf small talk.

"Hey, Tse! You get many vampires around here to take down?"

He turned his head back. "Quite a few up from Mexico. Also, there is a lot of human trafficking down to Mexico to be fed to the _Príncipes_ of Mexico. We try to intercede when the mortal authorities fail. This is riskier, since so many mortals are involved."

"Oh, man. That sucks big time. We try to not mess with mortals, but there's this faction of vampires from China that uses a ton of mortals in their private armies, so we haven't had any choice on that, either. Maybe we can share notes or something when this is over. Speaking of which, when are you going to tell us what the hell is going on?"

"Just a little closer, and I promise you I'll explain everything."

From the rear, Kyle panted out, "He's making sure we're too far into the desert to back out. Or, at least, too far for _me _to back out." His Seahawks sweat suit was now soaked and his breathing labored.

The whole procession stopped as soon as he finished his conjecture. I glanced back to Kyle and then did a double take back to Tse. Tse looked very uncomfortable for a moment before regaining his regal poise. "Is it true?" I asked.

"This situation is dire, and I couldn't take any chances," admitted Tse. His eyes held very little apology. I could feel my hackles bristle in response to his aggressive body language.

"Okay, then. We need a breather for Kyle, and I'm not going any further until I get an explanation about what the hell is going on here."

Tse started to reply, but Rain stepped in between us and hissed, "We don't have time for this; we need to keep moving. It will be dusk before too long. If you don't tell them, I will."

"What happens at dusk?" I demanded.

Tse looked back and forth between us slowly. "Sister, you need to understand your place. We still have time." He looked at me. "I will answer your questions. But first, I want to know why you brought a mortal and why they know about your pack. And now our pack."

My brain froze for just an instant. I had never thought they wouldn't recognize Kyle as a wolf. I looked over at Kyle to see if he wanted to field this. Kyle had sat down on a rocky outcropping when we stopped for our little discussion. He was now holding his head and staring at the ground like he was somewhere else. No help there.

I gestured over to the still figure sitting on the rock. "I'm afraid that you've got it wrong there. Kyle's a wolf. But not like us, exactly. He's a _true_ lycanthrope. He's an oddball, though. Bound to the new moon…" I trailed off because they all had quit listening around the word "lycanthrope". They all grew very dark. I didn't like where this was going at all. Yiska and Gad had assumed flanking positions next to Tse. I knew that formation all too well as it was exactly what we did with Jake when threatened. Only Rain seemed to keep calm and was intently examining Kyle.

"You better be joking, Seth," Tse growled as Gad interjected, "He smells like a human." Yiska was too apoplectic to speak, evidently.

Kyle was now pressed up against the rock looking completely terrified. It was too late to lie now, even if I had wanted to. I continued, "I assure you he is. He's wearing contacts to conceal his true eye color."

Things became a blur after that. I really didn't think phasing was a good idea as I didn't want to escalate the situation. Yiska went after Kyle. Gad grappled me to keep me from interfering. I was considerably taller than Gad, but he displayed surprising power for his size.

I saw Yiska collide with Kyle, who then fell to the desert ground. I thought that Yiska was about to phase when Rain jumped in between the two of them. About this time, Tse pulled Gad off me.

"Idiots!" Rain screamed. "He's obviously not like the others since he has a completely different scent! Everyone calm down!"

"It's not your place to give us orders, sister!" Tse countered.

"Then keep your dogs in check! We need him!" She gave Kyle a quick once over. "Oh, shit. Blood. He's hurt." She looked to Yiska with a withering glare.

At this point, I was really freaked out. I was close to phasing, myself, and the other shifters could probably tell this. I tried to keep focused on the task at hand; protecting Kyle. "What's wrong with him?"

"I'm right here, you know," Kyle stated in a _very_ angry voice. He tried to sit up and winced in pain. "Probably a dislocated shoulder and minor concussion. Dude over there hits like a Mack truck."

I spun on the other three shifters. "What the hell is your problem? He was just sitting there!"

Tse opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by howling in the distance. No, two sets of howling. One behind our path and one set directly in our path.

Tse gave a concerned look to Yiska and Gad, who returned it, but it was Rain who spoke. "That's the big secret, Seth. We are at war with lycanthropes."


	4. Chapter 4

July 12, 2011

7:19 pm

Navajo Nation

Chapter 4: Flight

Kyle Khattab POV

Pain lanced through my left shoulder like liquid fire, and my head was still ringing from the impact with the Navajo shifter, but I was pretty sure I had just heard the words "war" and "lycanthropes" used together. Wilhelm hadn't mentioned this little detail. This had turned into a cluster fuck pretty quickly.

I took a moment to assess the situation before I tried to get up. Yiska and Gad had already phased, and Seth was trying to question Tse and Rain at the same time. I also heard two distinct sets of howls over Seth's shouting.

"What the hell is going on here?" Seth demanded of Rain and Tse.

Seeing that Tse had recovered from his initial surprise, Rain let Tse answer. Tse explained, "We are all in grave danger; as are the people in the village. This is not the time for talk! We must get back immediately! Seth, you'll need to carry that one," pointing at me. "You need to phase now so Rain can help him up onto your back."

Fuck me. This was_ exactly _the kind of mess that I wanted no part of. I didn't get to ponder the situation further as Rain was hoisting me to my feet in anticipation of Seth shifting. Rain gave me a strange look as she pulled me up, but quickly changed her attention to getting me on the now horse-sized Seth. "Are you going to be able to hold on?" she asked as she gave me a boost.

My shoulder was still killing me, and I had never ridden anything, much less a super-size wolf; but it seemed like we needed as much speed as possible and putting two people on one wolf was probably a bad idea. So I answered, "Sure no problem, it feels better already."

After getting me on Seth's sandy back, Rain scooped up my bag and nimbly vaulted onto Tse's broad silver shoulders. I gripped Seth's fur tightly with my right hand, but my left hand was very weak and I struggled to maintain a grip with that hand through the pain of my injury.

_This is pathetic._

God dammit. The last thing I needed now was another distraction.

But the other voice persisted. _We shouldn't have to ride another wolf. You are weak. And foolish to deny me. _

_Go the fuck away! This isn't the time!_

Just as I feared, I was nearly thrown off by Seth's sudden acceleration. I barely managed to get my attention back to riding in time to prevent being thrown off, but the pain in my left arm and torso was now excruciating as I clung on for dear life.

I had been told many times how fast shifters could run in their wolf forms. But theoretical knowledge was nothing compared to the real experience. Judging from the blur of the landscape and the rush of the wind, I estimated that we had to going at least one hundred-twenty kilometers per hour, probably faster. But after a minute or so of travel, _something _happened.

One second, I was watching Tse and the Navajo shifters ahead of us, and then when I glanced back to the landscape, it was much less blurred. I could make out details like rocks being kicked up by Yiska and individual plants. Panicked at the thought that we were slowing down for some reason, I looked down at the ground beneath us. It was very difficult to tell what was happening from that perspective as well, so I looked at Yiska and Gad's stride and Seth's position relative to them. They appeared to still be at a full run and Seth wasn't losing any ground, so I concluded that we had not, in fact, slowed down. I closed my eyes as to not be disoriented any further by this phenomenon.

My respite was short-lived, as Rain's shouting and the shifters' growling compelled me to open my eyes and look ahead. Several hundred meters ahead of us were nine lupine figures closing in fast. Judging from their rate of approach, the shifters were likely faster, but not so much faster as to be able to run around them, as the lycanthropes' intercept path was nearly perfect. I had no idea if I would be able to hit anything from the back of Seth, but I drew my 10-mm anyway. Unfortunately, I had to use my sore left arm, as it was not strong enough to keep me on Seth's back. This was going to suck.

It quickly became apparent that the shifters were going to try to bust through with brute force. I wasn't certain this was the best course of action, but I had no way to communicate with them. A dark grey shifter with no rider, Yiska perhaps, charged aggressively at the lycanthrope formation followed closely by the other riderless shifter. Seth and Tse hung back a bit, presumably because of their cargo. If Rain or I were thrown at this speed, it would be catastrophic for either of us.

Time seemed to slow a bit as the two lead shifters hit the lycanthrope pack. The charge was initially successful, as they managed to trample two or three, but this cost them speed. The other lycanthropes quickly closed in, biting at their flanks and leg tendons. Seth and I were very close now and these wolves did not look right at all. Huge patches of fur were missing from their bodies, exposing boil-covered flesh. Their gnashing maws were filled with yellowish-green foam and broken, misshapen teeth. In my panic, I lost muscle control in my eyes and reverted to seeing in the infrared spectrum, which was what I saw in by default with no effort to adjust my focus.

_Fuck me._

Seth and Tse apparently decided to ditch the busting through plan and slow down to help Yiska and Tse. Rain, or at least a small blob that radiated far less heat than any other combatant, skillfully dismounted Tse right before he knocked down a pair of sickly-looking wolves. I dismounted as well, but was not nearly as graceful, landing on my back and knocking the wind out of myself. The impact also caused me to accidentally discharge my weapon into the empty desert to my left, temporarily deafening me. The kick of the weapon caused new spikes of pain up my left arm, in addition to the heat generated by the special round. My eyes followed the blob of intense heat into the distance until it hit a rock formation.

_Shit. That was one of my three shots. _

I switched the pistol to my right hand as I staggered to my feet and tried to get a handle on the chaos. The outnumbered shifters were trying to defend their flanks and vulnerable leg connective tissues while trying to get lethal bites on the lycanthropes, which, judging by the one motionless blob on the ground, had already happened once.

_Good. One down. But there are still EIGHT of them left!_

I refocused to regular light wavelengths in order to better assess the situation. I could see in the failing light just as well as the shifters of Jacob's pack as we had previously determined from some quick comparisons. I could clearly make out Yiska limping badly. The four shifters were trying to gain a tactical advantage over seven opponents, but Yiska's wounds were making it difficult.

_Wait a second. Seven? Oh, fuck._

I heard Rain cursing behind me to the left. I turned towards the direction of her voice to see her taking cover behind a person-sized rock formation. Limping towards her, broken teeth bared, was the ninth lycanthrope.

_This one must have been slowest to recover from trampling!_

I instinctually ran over to Rain, ignoring the pain on my left side. I (foolishly?) put myself between Rain and the diseased wolf. From this distance, I could clearly see _green_ blood vessels in its blood shot eyes. I slowly raised my pistol with my right arm. I was shaking badly. This could end very poorly for both us.

This wolf must have not been very impressed with my body language, nor my weapon, as it pounced at me like I were prey. While in midair, the wolf was unable to change its trajectory, and I took advantage of this. Trying to compensate for my shaking, I took aim at its brain cavity and squeezed the trigger, praying that the rounds would be effective against these particular lycanthropes. The powerful round made a cacophonous boom and the wolf's skull was temporarily set alight as the round easily penetrated the skull, sending brain matter flying away from the entrance trajectory of the round.

My elation was short-lived. The carcass continued its flight toward me and landed on me, pinning me underneath. My strain didn't have a sense of smell like the shifters, but even with a near-human sense of smell, the stench was horrid. I saw Rain move to help me.

"Don't fucking touch it!" I bellowed at her. "I'll get out from under on my own. No reason for you to risk exposure."

She gave me a defiant look, but heeded my warning. "I'm not just going to sit here!" Reaching down, she grabbed my pistol that had flown a meter or two clear when the wolf had crashed into me.

"Be careful! It kicks heavy and gets hot!" I warned her.

She just nodded and ran to the other side of the rock formation. I heard my pistol discharge once, and the sounds of fighting ended shortly thereafter. About the same time I managed to wriggle out from under the wolf corpse. Or at least what I hoped was a corpse. Surely they couldn't regenerate the removal of 90% of the brain cavity, not to mention the burns and other exit damage. Surely not, I hoped. Of course, I had regenerated a huge percentage of digestive tract just a few months ago. I could only hope that brains were more critical to my kind, regardless of any bizarre infection.

I staggered a bit as I walked around the rock formation back to the battle area. Gruesome didn't begin to describe the scene. The infected werewolves were all in various states of dismemberment; the dusty landscape was painted with greenish-orange blood mixed with pure red shifter blood. Yiska and Seth were already back in human form. Both of Yiska's legs and his left arm were severely damaged, covered in ragged bites. He was unable to stand and looked like he was about to lose consciousness. Seth was better off, as he was still conscious and mobile, but he still was bleeding from a half a dozen wounds, including a series of nasty-looking scratches across the face.

Gad and Tse were still in wolf form, with various wounds painting their bodies. Fur matted with blood was interrupted by bites and other nasty-looking gashes and lacerations. Both wolves had labored breathing and Gad in particular looked shell-shocked.

"We must get to the cover of Singer's Basin!" Rain cried, handing back my firearm. "The others behind us will be on us soon! Help me get Yiska up on to Tse! Gad can't carry anyone; you'll have to help me with Seth!"

It took me a few seconds to realize that she was talking to me. And that there was no one else for her to be talking to. I could feel a creeping panic setting in at that realization.

I hastily explained, "I have to carry the bag, and I don't think I can handle much else. I'm sorry. I'll try, though." My shoulder had taken another hit from the airborne lycanthrope, and was throbbing agonizingly again.

Rain gave me a very strange look. It was vaguely accusatory. Or so I thought.

"Do what you can, then! Come on! Move it!" Turning to Tse, she cried, "Brother! You and Gad, go! You can't help us anymore! Go!"

Gad took off immediately, but Tse remained, looking at Rain defiantly. Yiska looked like he was going to pass out from the effort of staying on his back.

"Go! Don't be an idiot!" Rain spat as she helped Seth to his feet. "Be careful to not throw him! He's really fucked up!" With that, Tse reluctantly made off in our original direction, Yiska barely hanging on.

It might have seemed like a trivial thing to an outside observer, but I faced the dilemma of using my crippled shoulder to carry the very heavy supply bag or try to support Seth. My shoulder burned. All the nicks and scrapes from the battle with the diseased lycanthropes burned. My lungs burned. And maybe the worst of all my stomach burned. This whole fucking mess was way more activity than I was used to. Best not to think about that. Looking at how Rain was struggling with Seth, I sucked it up and put the bag on my bad shoulder. I took about ten steps with this set up and thought I was going to pass out from pain.

"How far are we talking here?" I gasped at Rain between ragged breaths.

"It's just under a mile! We were almost there! Are you gonna be able make it?" she demanded.

"Do I really have a choice? Leah will kill me if I come back and Seth doesn't!" I wheezed. "Please, I can't talk anymore and do this."

She just nodded and let me get back to my agonizing labor. I could hear the howls behind us growing closer. I tried to focus all my energy on putting one foot in front of the other. After several minutes of agonizing torture, we reached a crest with a basin below us with a couple dozen buildings. The buildings were a mix of traditional Navajo construction and some prefab cheap structures.

We saw no sign of Yiska, Gad, or Tse. They obviously had reached the village already. That was good. But it brought up a very pertinent point to my mind.

"Rain, what makes you think those things aren't just going to come in a slaughter everyone right now?"

"It's dusk, and they prefer daytime attacks for some reason. Also, the last time they got close to the village, we kicked their asses. So I'm hoping they remember that. At least for right now."

It didn't matter, as we had no choice but to press on, carefully maneuvering Seth down the hill. He was fading in and out of consciousness at this point, and I was on the point of collapse myself. We managed to get Seth into one of the larger prefab buildings that Rain directed me towards. As we laid Seth on a cot, I noticed other cots with Navajo wolves in wolf form, including Tse. Then darkness took me.


End file.
